Investor Turned Founder: Aditya Sharma's Mission with Affordplan to Fix India's Healthcare Affordability

Deep dive into Aditya Sharma, CEO & Co- founder of Affordplan. Explore his unique investor-founder path, Affordplan's mission, turnaround story & healthcare insights.

Aditya Sharma represents a rare breed in the startup ecosystem: the seasoned investor who traded term sheets for the trenches of entrepreneurship. As the CEO & Co-founder of Affordplan, he's tackling one of India's most pressing challenges – making healthcare affordable. His journey from the calculated world of private equity to leading a purpose-driven healthcare fintech startup is packed with unique insights, honed through navigating complex turnarounds and building for impact.

I recently had a fascinating conversation with Aditya on the Founder Thesis podcast, diving deep into his experiences and the intricacies of Affordplan's model. You can listen to the full episode for an unfiltered look into his journey and the realities of building in the Indian healthcare space.

Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights.

This article serves as a dossier, combining insights from our conversation with his extensive background, offering a comprehensive look at the leader and the venture aiming to change the face of healthcare financing in India.

The Formative Years: Education and Early Career

Aditya Sharma's foundation was built on commerce and strategy. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the prestigious St. Xavier's College, Kolkata (1992-1995), followed by an MBA focused on Strategy and Marketing from Lancaster University (2002-2003).

His early career saw him analyzing stocks at United Credit Securities and consulting at Trisys Communications in Kolkata, providing a grounding in finance and corporate communications before his foray into the burgeoning world of Indian retail and private equity.

The Investor Lens: Future Group, Everstone & Lok Capital

A pivotal phase began at Future Group (2004-2006), working in the strategy office under founder Kishore Biyani during a period of explosive growth for India's largest retailer. This experience provided invaluable exposure to strategy, operations, and new business ventures in a fast-paced consumer environment.

This led him into the world of private equity, starting with Everstone Capital Advisors (2006-2012). As Vice President, Aditya focused on the operations and strategy side of investments across diverse consumer sectors like retail, fashion, F&B, and cosmetics. He gained experience managing buyouts, distressed assets, and coordinating due diligence, primarily focusing on consumer-centric companies.

His journey took a significant turn towards impact investing when he joined Lok Capital as a Director (2012-2018). Lok Capital focused on enterprises creating social impact, particularly in financial services, healthcare, and agriculture. Aditya specialised in healthcare investments and driving operations within portfolio companies, working closely with startups, growth-stage firms, and turnaround situations. This period deepened his understanding of India beyond the metros and exposed him firsthand to the critical gaps in areas like healthcare accessibility.

"For me this came about when I worked in an impact fund... I saw India for the first time. That's when you realize... you're lucky to be born on the right side of the tracks."

The Entrepreneurial Leap: Joining and Leading Affordplan

It was during his time at Lok Capital that Aditya encountered Affordplan, initially as part of an investment evaluation. Lok Capital participated in a significant funding round for Affordplan around 2018. Over time, Aditya's involvement deepened – transitioning from investor to consultant, then to COO (April 2019 - July 2020), and ultimately taking the helm as CEO & Co-founder in August 2020. He later led a buyout of the company in 2023, cementing his commitment to its mission.

This investor-to-founder transition is unconventional but equips Aditya with a unique perspective, blending financial discipline and strategic foresight with the operational grit required to build a company.

Decoding Affordplan: Mission, Model & Method

The Core Problem: Affordplan exists to address a stark reality: healthcare expenses push millions of Indians towards financial distress. Aditya highlighted on the podcast that an estimated 10 crore Indians risk falling below the poverty line due to healthcare costs, often driven by manageable out-of-pocket expenses for chronic conditions rather than just major surgeries.

The Mission: To change the landscape of healthcare financing in India, making quality care more affordable and accessible, particularly for the vast population struggling with rising costs.

The Model (B2B2C): Affordplan operates a unique B2B2C model, partnering directly with hospitals.

👉 For Hospitals: Affordplan helps drive higher utilization of hospital services (like OPD, pharmacy, labs) and increase per-patient realization, moving beyond generic discounts which Aditya calls "water down the drain."

👉 For Patients: Through the hospital partnership, Affordplan provides patients with tools and products designed to reduce their overall healthcare expenditure.

The Method (Beyond Loyalty): While it incorporates elements like cashback (usable only within the partner hospital network, ensuring loyalty and security), Affordplan is more than a simple loyalty program.

✅ Financial Products: It bundles tailored micro-insurance products (like personal accident or vector-borne disease coverage) and facilitates access to loans via NBFC partners for larger expenses.

✅ Wellness & Prevention: It encourages frequent testing and healthy living, aiming to reduce the likelihood of sudden, large healthcare costs through behavioural nudges and discounted wellness programs.

✅ Seamless Integration: Affordplan often embeds its functionalities within the hospital's own app, reducing friction for patients and leveraging the existing hospital relationship. The acquisition cost is near zero as patients discover Affordplan within the hospital itself.

The Turnaround Saga: Navigating Crisis and Pivot

Aditya stepped into leadership during a challenging period for Affordplan. The company's initial product version, while aiming to address healthcare costs, faced execution challenges and didn't provide quick, visible benefits to hospital partners. The cash burn was significantly high relative to revenue.

The onset of COVID-19 acted as a catalyst for change. It forced the shutdown of the old product and accelerated the launch of the new model ("Swasth"), which was already in development. This period demanded tough decisions:

➡️ Product Pivot: Fully committing to the new B2B2C model.

➡️ Team Restructuring: Reducing staffing and letting go of cities to align with the new focus and pandemic realities.

➡️ Resilience: Navigating the inability to even meet hospitals for business development during lockdowns.

"COVID did one good thing. It allowed us to completely close the erst product. The new product was already work in progress and we just went ahead and launched it."

The turnaround wasn't easy, described by Aditya as managing with "back to the wall" and "limited runway," but driven by a belief in the new product and the underlying purpose.

Leadership Philosophy: Purpose, Process & Pulling the Plug

Aditya's background as an investor distinctly shapes his leadership style:

• Financial Acumen: A relentless focus on the end result – building a scalable, profitable, sustainable business.

• Process Orientation: Implementing rigorous processes, a trait honed in investment where small errors have large consequences. This was initially a challenge to instill in an execution-focused team.

• Calculated Risk-Taking: Comfortable taking risks where others might hesitate, provided there's a clear line of sight to the potential outcome.

• Knowing When to Pull the Plug: A willingness to dispassionately shut down initiatives or products that aren't working, avoiding the common founder pitfall of falling in love with one's own creation. He acknowledges the risk of pulling the plug too soon and stresses the need for a balanced team.

• Purpose as a Moat: Aditya firmly believes Affordplan's strongest competitive advantage is its purpose-driven mission, shared intensely by the co-founders. This fuels resilience and the determination to overcome obstacles.

"Nobody can afford to fall in love with his or her own product. That is a classical screw up. You have to be highly dispassionate... when do you pull a plug is actually very important for all founders."

Funding and Future Outlook

Affordplan's journey has been supported by venture capital, including the notable round involving Lok Capital around 2018. While specific current scale metrics weren't discussed in the podcast, the focus remains on impacting the millions affected by healthcare costs.

Looking ahead, Aditya sees significant opportunities in the broader wellness space in India, encompassing physical, mental, and nutritional aspects. He also acknowledges the potential of AI and ML to analyze patient data for predictive insights and preventative healthcare interventions, complementing Affordplan's mission.

Aditya Sharma's leadership at Affordplan exemplifies a unique blend of financial discipline, operational experience, and a deep commitment to social impact, positioning the company as a key player in shaping a more affordable healthcare future for India.

Listen now!

Other ways to listen:

Apple Podcast | Amazon Music

Your Feedback matters

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Whether it's about this episode or ideas you’ve been playing around with, shoot me an email at ad@thepodium.in. Your feedback keeps these conversations going, and I’m always up for chatting about your startup ideas too.

Until next time,

Your Host,

Akshay Datt